By Hook or by Nook

Okay. So I put off picking a winner in the ebooks war for the longest time. Then I decided I didn't want to pay the price it costs for the winner, but instead base it on features that mattered to me. So I bought a Nook (the new edition) I would prefer to call it the Nook Touch, but that isn't want Barnes and Noble is calling it.

When a geek decides subconsciously that he wants new technology items, he goes through a justification processes. Some how he logics that that he can justify the cost of the device by some notion. In this case I am using the lame excuse I need to study for my PMP exam. And because this device has limited functionality (meaning it has less bells and whistles) I would be able to focus. I have a really short attention span so I thought if I had a device that only does one thing and it does it really well, then I would read and focus.

Why I choose the "All-New Nook 'The Simple Touch Reader'"?
1. microSD card port - This way I can easily add my own books and pdfs.
2. Two months of battery life -- Okay, this is more cool and mostly marketing as you have to turn wireless off and it is assuming you will read one hour a day.
3. Super light -- It weighs about the same as a paperback book. Seriously.
4. Touch -- The Kindle just has so many buttons on it and is bigger than it needs to be because of this. I know the Kindle will come out in a touch screen version. I even guestimate Amazon will be releasing their own Android based tablet with Kindle eInk built in. I also speculate the next iPad will have a way to display eInk to save on power and improve readability and then bounce back into normal display mode when you want to do other stuff. So perhaps I jumped in the wrong place. Let's not talk that way as you will cause me buyers remorse.

I see some cons to this device already.
1. Not color, which means there are books on barnesandnoble.com that I can not download to my device. Ugh!
2. Device can't do a lot with pdfs except display them. I can't really zoom a lot with a pdf to try and get bigger texted. I am not going blind but it displays the table of contents really small.
3. The site does not tell you easily that your particular nook won't work with it. They seem to want you to buy the color nook yet they are hyping the newest one.

What I really like...
1. The display quality is amazing.
2. The touch functionality works great.
3. There are so many free books on barnesandnoble.com and other sites I have yet to actually buy a book, but I will. I have my eye on some already.
4. Wireless works great.
5. Response time is great. Books pop up quick and pages turn fast.

My next post I will tell you about the amazing software I downloaded, Calibre. It is a great ebook manager for what ever device you choose.